Chapter 91 Explanation of the New Upsurge of the Chinese Revolution[1]

(February 1, 1947) This document [2] could not be distributed last year, but it can be distributed now.It is beneficial now to draw conclusions from the whole Party on the general situation and individual problems.The general situation is: the revolutionary climax is coming soon.There have been three such climaxes in the nearly half century of Chinese history. The first was the Revolution of 1911, the second was the Northern Expedition, and the third was the War of Resistance Against Japan, all of which were nationwide.Others such as the May 4th Movement, the May 30th Movement[3], and the Agrarian Revolutionary War were not large enough, and the Agrarian Revolutionary War did not develop to a nationwide scale.Now the fourth national-scale revolutionary climax may come soon.The proletariat did not participate in the leadership of the first revolutionary upsurge, and there was no Communist Party at that time, and it was led by the Tongmenghui[4].The second and third times were jointly led by the Communist Party and the Kuomintang.This time the upsurge was led by the Communist Party alone.Perhaps some comrades will doubt whether the revolutionary climax is coming. They think that such a climax comes only once every few years, and it is not an easy task.It is indeed not easy, but judging from the recent situation, the climax is definitely coming soon.Whenever there is a revolutionary climax, the enemy always has a weakness and gives us an opportunity to take advantage of it, otherwise it will be very difficult.For example, the second revolutionary upsurge was between the first and second world wars, and now this upsurge is after the second world war.Every revolutionary upsurge has a national character and is anti-imperialist. This time it is against U.S. imperialism.The Sino-U.S. business treaty[5] signed between the Kuomintang government and the U.S. government was to turn China into a colony of the U.S., and this will not change because of the withdrawal of U.S. troops from China.As stated in the document: "This situation is due to the fact that American imperialism and its running dog Chiang Kai-shek replaced Japanese imperialism and its running dog Wang Jingwei[6], and adopted the policy of turning China into a US colony, launching a civil war, and strengthening the It was formed under the policy of fascist dictatorship. Under the reactionary policies of the United States and Chiang Kai-shek, the people of the whole country have no way out except struggle. Struggle for independence, peace, and democracy is still the basic requirement of the Chinese people in the current period. "[7] I said before that as a result of the fight with the Kuomintang, there are three possibilities for fighting the liberated areas: large, medium, and small. Now it seems that the possibility of fighting the small ones is very small, and the possibility of fighting the big ones is very high. big.The resolution of the Party's Sixth Congress stated that the two basic contradictions were not resolved, and they are still unresolved, so the revolutionary climax is inevitable.The driving force of this revolution is the two fronts, that is, the people's movement in the liberated areas and the areas under Chiang's administration, and the liberated areas are the main ones.The greater the victory in the liberated areas, the faster the climax will come.Will it be possible to win? According to past experience, the three major fascist countries[8] have all been defeated. Why can’t the United States and Chiang Kai-shek be defeated? From all perspectives, the enemy can be defeated.The most difficult thing for us now is the area where the Fifth Division [9] is active. It is difficult for the comrades there to imagine that the revolutionary climax is coming soon.But China is such a country. Although even the Jiangxi Soviet Area withdrew in the end of the ten-year civil war, the revolutionary climax is still coming. It is true that there is a north in the south.The reason why Europe is leaning to the left is that the middle class and petty bourgeois in some countries there are increasingly losing their savings and becoming proletarians.The situation in China is the same. The life of the people in the Jiang-administered areas is even more difficult than during the Anti-Japanese War. Therefore, the Chinese people have to make revolution. "Ta Kung Pao" is a bourgeois newspaper that supports Chiang Kai-shek but disagrees with Chiang. The paper proposes that China has three futures: first, the future of political consultation; second, the future of the Southern and Northern Dynasties; and third, the future of the October Revolution.Only there is no mention of Chiang Kai-shek's future in unifying China.None of the centrist newspapers said that Chiang Kai-shek could unify China, and even the Kuomintang newspapers had to say that only democracy has a way out.Point out that the revolutionary climax must come, let the whole party understand and prepare in advance from the ideological, work and organizational aspects, then we may win in this climax.Last year it was difficult for us to judge the policy of the United States towards the Chiang Kai-shek government (like the policy of the United Kingdom towards Greece[10]), but now we can be sure.Our current slogan is not to overthrow the United States and Chiang Kai-shek, but in fact we want to overthrow them.Is there any possibility of peace in the future? Our documents do not block the possibility of peace, nor do we refuse to negotiate with the Kuomintang.However, the United States wants to jointly rule China with Chiang Kai-shek, Chiang Kai-shek wants to be a dictator, and the people must fight against imperialism and feudalism. These three things are determined and there is no doubt.Why is peace possible? If we wipe out another fifty brigades of Chiang's army, Chiang Kai-shek will desperately need to rest so that he can fight again.What about us? It depends on the momentum of the climax and the situation of manpower and material resources. If we also need to rest in order to continue to attack, we can also negotiate with him.Under such circumstances, it is possible for the two sides to have a truce of half a year to a year. This truce is only a temporary step and does not involve issues of principle.The so-called issues of principle are anti-imperialist and anti-feudal.We have taken this step to secure the victory of the revolution.During last year's armistice, our Fifth Division and Jiangnan suffered losses, the army suffered losses and the people were devastated.But such a truce is necessary either militarily or politically.At that time, it was unreasonable to stop the war. Chiang Kai-shek did the same, and the United States also felt the same way. This resulted in a short-term truce.And a truce of this nature may happen in the future, so there is no possibility of denying peace in the document.

Regarding the land issue in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, the Northwest Bureau and the border region government should continue to solve the problem so that all landless peasants can obtain land.Where the land has already been distributed, if the majority of people do not get the land but only a few people get it, re-division should be considered, so as to gain the support of the majority of the people.It is necessary to cause the peasants to quarrel with the landlords, not to make peace.It is not good to fight the landlord and then drag it.Now a group of cadres are actually on the side of the landlords, and they should be educated.It is necessary to make the headquarters, special agencies, and prefectural committees stand on the side of the peasant masses ideologically.It is a shortcoming in our work that we have not educated them in the past. They are afraid of violating the policy.

With regard to the united front, the document stated that it was extremely extensive, and one point should be added to explain that the fact that the Youth Party and the Democratic Socialist Party[11] sided with Chiang Kai-shek was not because we were isolated, but because Chiang Kai-shek became even more isolated.Chiang had to win over such small factions, and these small factions came out to help maintain his situation, which just proved that our united front was broader.Such things will continue to happen in the future, because the power of the people will grow stronger in the future. Now our attitude towards Chiang Kai-shek is somewhat different from that during the War of Resistance, but not in principle. During the War of Resistance, we actually struggled more with him and compromised less.Although the big landlords and big bourgeoisie represented by Chiang Kai-shek played some roles in the anti-fascist war, they also caused great harm.During the Anti-Japanese War, our policy towards Chiang was to put a rope around his neck and pull him to walk with us.Chiang Kai-shek resisted the Japanese passively, actively opposed the Communist Party, and attacked us wherever he could.If we do not resolutely resist, without this preparation, we cannot have the situation we have today.Our main allies in the war of resistance were the peasants, followed by the national bourgeoisie.Chiang Kai-shek played a certain role in the war of resistance, but it was not as good as that played by Churchill[12] in Britain's war against Germany.

It is good that the land issue is resolved now.It is not too late to solve it since last year or this year, but if it is not solved now, it will be a big mistake to delay it any longer. The "Three-Three System" [13] is still needed, why not abolish it? Because the current situation in the Liberated Areas is basically the same as that in the base areas where democratic reforms have been deepened during the Anti-Japanese War. Therefore, middle elements and non-Party progressive elements should also be absorbed into the political power Come.Some comrades think that the "three-three system" can be dispensed with, which is inappropriate.In places where the land reform movement is deep, if the landlords have already surrendered, it is in our interest to pull them back.

In short, this revolutionary upsurge is different from the previous three times. What is different from the first time is that our party is in place. What is different from the second and third times is that there is no Kuomintang to participate in the leadership.Those who share leadership will not do well.In the civil war we did not occupy large cities, nor did the national bourgeoisie take part in it. This time is different.There is still a long time before the victory of the revolution. As I have said in the past, the minimum is three to five years, and the maximum is ten to fifteen years.If we take at least three to five years, then half of the time since Japan's surrender has passed, that is, one and a half years, but we still have to estimate the final difficulties.

This document should be widely circulated within the party. Published based on the transcript of the speech kept by the Central Archives. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ note [1] This is Mao Zedong's speech at the enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China when discussing the party's directive "Meeting the New Upsurge of the Chinese Revolution".For this instruction, see pages 1211-1217 of the fourth volume of Selected Works of Mao Zedong (People's Publishing House, 1991 edition).

[2] Refers to the article "Meeting the New Upsurge of the Chinese Revolution". [3] The May 30th Movement refers to the anti-imperialist patriotic movement that broke out on May 30, 1925.In February and April 1925, tens of thousands of workers went on strike in Japanese cotton mills in Shanghai and Qingdao, and achieved major victories.The upsurge of the labor movement aroused the panic and hatred of the imperialists and stepped up their deployment to suppress the labor movement.On May 15, Japanese capitalists shot and killed Gu Zhenghong, the leader of the workers in the No. 7 Cotton Factory in Shanghai and a member of the Communist Party, and wounded more than ten people.On May 30, when more than 2,000 students staged demonstrations on various streets in the International Settlement, more than 100 people were arrested by police officers, which aroused even greater indignation among students and citizens. Nearly 10,000 people gathered at the gate of the police station, demanding the release of Arrested students.British police opened fire on the crowd, killing and injuring many. After the "May 30th" tragedy, it aroused the public indignation of the people across the country. The majority of workers, students, and some industrial and commercial people held demonstrations, strikes, strikes, strikes, and strikes in many cities and counties, forming a nationwide anti-imperialist patriotic movement. .

[4] Tongmenghui is the abbreviation of China Tongmenghui, a Chinese bourgeois revolutionary political party.In August 1905, members of revolutionary groups such as the Xingzhong Association and the Huaxing Association jointly formed the Tongmenghui in Tokyo, Japan, and adopted the bourgeois revolutionary principles proposed by Sun Yat-sen "to drive out the Tartars, restore China, establish the Republic of China, and equalize land rights." platform.Sun Yat-sen was elected prime minister.Under his leadership, the Tongmenghui actively carried out revolutionary propaganda, and the United Party and the New Army launched many armed uprisings.The Wuchang Uprising broke out in October 1911, and soon formed the Revolutionary Movement of 1911 to overthrow the Qing Dynasty.After Yuan Shikai seized power, the Tongmenghui was reorganized into the Kuomintang in August 1912.

[5] Sino-US commercial agreement, that is, "Sino-US Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation".See note [6] on page 201 of this volume. [6] Wang Jingwei, after the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War in 1937, served as the vice chairman of the National Defense Supreme Council of the Kuomintang, advocated compromise with Japan, and was the leader of the pro-Japanese faction in the Kuomintang.In March 1938, he served as the vice president of the Kuomintang. In December of the same year, he publicly surrendered to Japan and later served as the chairman of the Nanjing puppet government supported by Japan.

[7] See "Meeting the New Upsurge of the Chinese Revolution" ("Selected Works of Mao Zedong", Volume Four, People's Publishing House, 1991 edition, pp. 1212-1213). [8] Refers to Germany, Italy and Japan. [9] The Fifth Division refers to the Fifth Division of the former New Fourth Army, with Li Xiannian as its commander and political commissar. [10] In April 1941, German fascists occupied Greece. Some Greek government officials and military officers headed by the king fled abroad to form a government-in-exile. The people in the country actively fought against fascism under the leadership of the Greek Communist Party.The Greek People's Liberation Army was established in April 1942, and the Greek National Political Council was established in March 1944 to exercise the functions of the people's government. At this time, the People's Liberation Army had already liberated many cities on the basis of destroying a large number of enemies and vast territories.The victory of the People's Liberation Army terrified the Greek government-in-exile and made British imperialism extremely worried.In order to make Greece continue to be its sphere of influence, Britain supported the pro-British forces to continue to govern in Greece. In the name of "mediating" the relationship between the government-in-exile and the Political Committee of National Liberation, the United Kingdom created a deception to unify the Greek government and the Greek army, and then openly engaged in armed intervention.Under the political deceit and military intervention of the British imperialists, the National Liberation Political Committee announced its dissolution in September 1944 and handed over its power in the liberated areas. People's Liberation Army, and subsequently surrendered their weapons.After the People's Liberation Army laid down its arms, the revolutionary soldiers and civilians were brutally persecuted by the British and Greek governments.

[11] The Youth Party, the Chinese Youth Party, was established in 1923.The Democratic Socialist Party, namely the Chinese Democratic Socialist Party, was formed in August 1946 by the merger of the Chinese National Socialist Party and the Democratic Constitutional Party.During the War of Resistance Against Japan, they joined the China Democratic League and later attached themselves to the Kuomintang.In November 1946, he participated in the "National Assembly" arranged by the Kuomintang, supported the so-called "Constitution of the Republic of China" passed by this assembly, and supported Chiang Kai-shek's anti-communist and anti-people civil war. [12] Churchill, from 1940 to 1945, served as Prime Minister of the British Wartime Coalition Cabinet, leading Britain to resist the attack of fascist Germany. [13] "Three-Three Systems" is a policy formulated and implemented by the Communist Party of China on the construction of political power in the anti-Japanese base areas behind enemy lines.According to this policy, the distribution of personnel in the regime in the anti-Japanese base areas is that the Communist Party members account for roughly one-third, the leftist progressives roughly one-third, and the middle and other elements roughly one-third.